Reginald Fowler Rejects Plea Deal in Crypto 'Shadow Bank' Case

Reginald Fowler, a former investor of the U.S. National Football League team Minnesota Vikings, has rejected a plea deal with the U.S. government in an ongoing case that accuses him of operating "shadow bank" services tied to crypto exchanges.

According to a letter submitted by the prosecutor of the case on Jan. 31, Fowler "rejected the current plea offer" on Jan. 30 and the U.S. government "has formally withdrawn that offer." As such, the parties will move to trial as scheduled on April 28.

Fowler was indicted in April 2019, along with Israeli national Ravid Yosef, by the U.S. government for allegedly, among other charges, running "shadow bank" services that are tied to Crypto Capital.

Crypto Capital is a payment processing firm that has facilitated fiat currency onramps for several crypto exchanges including Bitfinex, Kraken and the now-defunct QuadrigaCX, among others.

The payments firm is also involved in another ongoing case filed by the New York Attorney General against Bitfinex and its sister company Tether, which accused the two of using a secret loan to cover a loss that Bitifnex alleged was caused by Crypto Capital.

It was reported in December that Fowler was initially expected to plead guilty to at least some of the charges. According to a Bloomberg report on Feb. 1, the plea deal was for Fowler to admit to one single felony if he would forfeit as much as $371 million.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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